PROMISE:
Home Greeting Biography Issues Promise Contact Us

We all have reasons for choosing Boulder County as home. Its proximity to the mountains and recreational opportunities, excellent schools for our children, our thriving business climate, its small town feel with the benefits of artistic and cultural accessibility.

As citizens of the communities across Boulder County, we have always answered the call when asked to fund recreational facilities or to purchase and protect our precious remaining open spaces. Our commitment to these ends didn't just happen in the last few years, it dates back generations to the earliest settlers in this region who recognized what a special place Boulder County was. They recognized the natural beauty and fertility of the Boulder Valley, the grandeur of its foothills and snow capped back-range.

Farmers came to till the rich soil, miners came for the deposits of gold, silver, tungsten and coal, business sprang up to support the booming economy, and the valley flourished. The communities of Longmont, Niwot, Boulder, Broomfield, Lafayette, Louisville, Superior, Eldorado Springs, Nederland, Goldhill, Ward, and Jamestown were born of that rush.

Our forefathers understood the need to conserve and protect the area's natural beauty. Mountain parks were purchased, State and National forests were preserved. A "Green Line" and a "Blue Line" were imposed in an effort to protect our front range backdrop from being spoiled by development.

Today we are seeing another "Gold Rush" in the Boulder valley, one with a technological bent. It has brought a flood of new jobs, new families, and development and economic prosperity the likes of which have never been seen before, and unfortunately never planned for.

Our government officials promised measures to stem the tide, measures to protect our quality of life, but rather than addressing the situation head on, rather than creating a realistic comprehensive plan with population projections and corresponding transportation and infrastructure improvements by which they then could use to make informed decisions based on those projections, they chose to deny the problem and not to invest in roads or infrastructure believing only that "if they didn't build it, no one would come".

Because of our governments poor planning, and playing "politics" with our future, the continuing economic prosperity that has made this county great has now become its greatest threat. The rapid pace of growth along Boulder County's and Colorado's front range has out run our communities abilities to plan for, mitigate and cope with its negative consequences. Growth has impacted our schools, congested our roads, polluted our air, bogged down our infrastructure and opened the door to crime.

The congestion on our streets and highways is like a plaque choking the life's blood from this community's transportation veins and arteries, while auto emissions and other pollutants tint our horizon a sepia-brown.

Rather than adequately plan for its repercussions, our county and municipalities have reacted with knee jerk solutions, including down zoning, recombining properties, and anti-growth measures that threaten our businesses and economy, trod on personal property rights and more importantly, destroy families and life savings.

What would I do about the situation if elected?

OUR QUALITY OF LIFE:

As a life-long county resident, as a father and as a business owner, nothing is more important to me than protecting our quality of life. I am vehemently opposed to growth and transportation solutions that I characterize as "Southern California Solutions" I will fight to maintain Boulder County's rural and small town character.

TRANSPORTATION:

I do not share the enthusiasm of many for great multi-lane highways with flyovers crisscrossing this county. Please don't misunderstand, attention to our overloaded transportation system should be, and is one of my top priorities, I will make sure that the funding is available to repair and improve our county's aging roads and highways, but I am also dedicated to alternatives including tax incentives for businesses willing to allow a portion of their employees to telecommute and incentives to businesses willing to stagger shift times to coincide with periods of lower traffic density.

I believe that at a minimum Highway 36 and the Diagonal highway should be expanded to include HOV & HOT lanes. Additionally, and contrary to popular opinion I propose that an immediate effort should be underway to define, acquire and protect both light rail and commuter rail corridors throughout the metropolitan front-range for future rail expansion and I would sponsor legislation to do just that.

GROWTH AND PRESERVATION OF OPENSPACE:

I will sponsor legislation that creates "Conservation Zones" in areas experiencing rapid or expansive growth. These zones would offer our Colorado farmers agricultural income and property tax incentives to remain on their farms in those so designated urban areas, with the hope of easing developments pressures, on our states already struggling agricultural industry.

I will sponsor legislation that provides tax and other incentives to our states farmers who create voluntary conservation easements, and refine and simplify our laws regarding the use of transferable development rights.

I will work to find creative ways of providing financing and funding sources to be used by municipalities and county governments for the purpose of purchasing development rights, zoning rights and the creation of conservation easements.

EDUCATION:

As a product of our Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley public schools, I am one of their greatest supporters. As a parent, I am very concerned about the quality of education my daughter will receive and as a county employer, I believe we must demand the highest quality education possible to ensure the future success of our young people and in turn the success of our businesses.

I believe strongly in the value and strength of our public education system. Saying this, I believe that parents deserve accountability. I will not support a school administration which only supports the status quo, and refuses to be accountable for the quality of education it provides our children using public moneys. I believe in accountability at all levels of government, and especially when the end product is as important as the education of our children.

I am a supporter of Charter schools and commend their commitment to expanded parental involvement. I will support legislation to strengthen the Charter school movement.

I do support tuition tax credits as a matter of fairness, but I will only support them when I am convinced that adequate safeguards are in place to protect the strength and well being of our public schools. Competition is healthy, but a vibrant public school system is essential.

I am excited at the opportunity to play a role in our legislatures quest to improve and reform Colorado's educational system. I will work to put more money in the hands of Colorado's teachers, and I will do everything I can to improve the quality of education our sons and daughters receive. I want to send a message to the rest of this country that Colorado places the education of its children, their teachers, and our public school system at the top of its priority list.

TAXES:

Colorado's elderly are being driven from their homes by property tax increases. Increases used to pay for infrastructure improvements needed, as the result of expansive growth. I will offer legislation that offers property and state income tax relief for Colorado's senior citizens. We must find ways to address the costs of growth, and find an equitable means by which growth can pay its own way.

CRIME:

All that we believe in, all that we are as a community and state are threatened by the spread of crime. I will support new legislation and demand the enforcement of existing legislation to fight crime and remove criminals from our streets to protect our Colorado families. I support funding for rehabilitation programs, but I no longer want to let criminals out early for lack of beds. I will push to require judges to honor Colorado's three time loser law, habitual criminals should not be walking our streets looking for victims, they should be behind bars.

CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENT:

My family and I have a history of environmental advocacy, working to turn the lake where we lived into one of Boulder County's first wildlife preserves, raising pheasants as my 4-H project to release back into Boulder County, serving as a board member of Trout Unlimited and involvement in many other conservation organizations. I have worked hard for the advancement of conservation, and I have dealt thoughtfully and effectively with environmental and conservation issues. I will be a strong voice for the environment, our state parks and public lands.

EXPERIENCE:

I act on what I believe. My experience as a small business owner and as an entrepreneur have shown me that when the goal is important enough, nothing is impossible. That to be successful you must maintain the balance between quality and economy and I've learned that quality and profit can coexist. I have been an award winning small business owner. (See www.alpsinn.com) Our business philosophy and recipe for success has always been to put ourselves in our customers shoes. I will bring that same philosophy to the state legislature.

In 1999 I was appointed as Public Trustee to serve Boulder County. I took one of the state's most neglected and technologically backward offices and in less than one year turned it into the model and standard for the rest of the state. I took an office that routinely ran with up to a two-month document backlog, computerized, and streamlined our systems and now turn documents in less than 48 hours with less staff and at a lower cost. It is this ability and experience that I'd bring as your representative of House District 13.

PROMISE:

As your representative, and as a member of the Colorado Legislature I pledge to be a leader and an innovator. I will fight hard to provide equitable solutions to our growth and transportation problems. I will fight for our children, our families and our schools. I will work for and address the needs of Colorado's elderly. I will push for enforcement of our laws, rehabilitation programs, and imprisonment of habitual criminals. I will be a strong leader and advocate for conservation, our state parks and the environment.

I promise to use my strong consensus building skills to build bi-partisan support for the issues and and solutions important to us, our families, and our businesses here in Boulder County.

I would very much appreciate you vote and support this coming November. Thanks.

Sincerely, John Vanderhart
Email: john@vanderhart.org